What is it about?
A round panel of Italian experts in schizophrenia met to review the need for contemporary use of second-generation long-acting injectable antipsychotics (SGA LAIs) in “recovery-oriented” and “patient-centered” care of schizophrenia. The panel selected three different clinical dimensions that can characterize each patient: phase of disease, adherence to treatment, and level of functioning. For each dimension, the perspectives of both patients and caregivers were reviewed and the role that SGA LAIs can have in achieving shared treatment goals were examined.
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Why is it important?
Understanding the attitudes of patients and caregivers can represent a valuable asset in tailoring treatment to the expressed needs, and has the potential to improve the therapeutic alliance and medication adherence, thereby enhancing long-term prognosis. The development of SGA LAIs has increased the number of options available to personalize pharmacological treatment of schizophrenia. SGA LAIs are likely to fit well into the long-term, comprehensive, multimodal treatment plans that are recommended for schizophrenia. Linking the use of SGA LAIs to the goals of patients and caregivers may significantly contribute to achieving remission and recovery.
Perspectives
Considered in a contemporary perspective, SGA-LAIs have an important supportive function in the process of breaking the spiral of de-socialization and functional decline in schizophrenia, favoring the recovery process.
Francesco Pietrini
Department of Mental Health and Addictions, Central Tuscany NHS Trust, Florence, Italy
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The modern perspective for long-acting injectables antipsychotics in the patient-centered care of schizophrenia, April 2019, Dove Medical Press,
DOI: 10.2147/ndt.s199048.
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